450

CHRISTIAN RAYAHS.

three are known among Turkish rayahs, as the Protestants resident in the empire are all foreigners, enjoying the protection of the respective European governments to which they are subject. Many of the Roman Catholics are similarly circumstanced: of those who are not so a few are converts from the Greeks, while some are Armenians and some Syrians by birth. All the other rayahs, constituting the great mass, belong to the Greek and Armenian churches, if we except an inconsiderable number attached to minor sects, inhabiting chiefly Egypt and Syria, as the Copts and Abyssinians.

About two hundred thousand Greeks reside in Constantinople and the neighbouring villages. The principal families have acquired the name of Fanariotes from the quarter they occupy, called the Fanar, which was originally consigned to their ancestors by Mohammed II. when he conquered the last of their emperors, and which has been retained ever since as the residence of their patriarch and of the old Greek nobles, some of whom still live in great splendor.

Both sexes are handsome; the young men particularly so; and the women have bright dark eyes and regular features. The usual

COSTUME OF GREEK RAYAHS.

451

robe of the higher classes flows from the neck to the feet, and is buttoned above and girt with a ceinture. Over this is another similar one, or a jacket, the material of which may be cloth, cotton, or silk, according to the weather and the finances of the wearer: when it is of cloth, the edges are often trimmed with fur. For these two garments the lower orders substitute a coarse tight jacket. All use the petticoat-trowsers of the Turks; while their legs, if not bare, are covered either with stockings or with some of the superabundant folds of the anomalous trowsers. The poor wear Frank shoes; the rich, black slippers. The turban is formed by a long strip of cotton cloth rolled round and round a scarlet cap, or fez: it differs from the Moslim head-dress in being very low on the crown, like the slippers restricted by law to a dark color, and tightly twisted; while the Turkish turban, formed of larger folds and raised much higher, exhibits a fuller surface and handsomer appearance. The priests wear a black cloth hat without a brim and with a flat projecting crown. The mass of the Greek women dress in a tight bodice and full petticoat; but the ladies are gradually los ing the nationality of their costume, assimilating it to that of western Europe, except the

452

GREEK CHARACTER.

head-dress: this consists either of a scarlet cloth cap, covering the crown and decorated with a silk tassel and a piece of black velvet richly worked in gilt wire, or of a preposterously large toque, shaped like the expanded wings of a butterfly.

The Greeks, for upwards of four centuries groaning under a galling yoke, exhibit in their character all the qualities which servitude engenders. Avaricious, intriguing, treacherous, timid, servile, and immoral, they appear to adapt themselves to every change of circumstances, while vanity prevents them from deviating a single point from their ancient self. In business proverbially dishonest, a Greek's word is ever at discount: his one object is to grasp all he can reach, and it is said that to give a merchant the price he first asks is to render him miserable; for, having obtained it so readily, he is vexed that he did not demand a larger sum.

But more serious charges are brought against them. Scarcely a single Greek family is free from the stain of some disgraceful imputation. The conversation of the ladies, even in the presence of the other sex, is said to be indecorous in the extreme; and so common is it for unmarried females to retire for a few weeks into

the country under circumstances the least creditable, that girls of unimpeachable character have been known to deny themselves the gratification of a temporary absence from home, lest reports unfavorable to them should be circulated.

The civil degradation of this people has already been hinted at. Justice itself can be obtained only by bribes; their vanity is wounded by a prohibition against the use of any bright color either on their houses or in their apparel, and against carrying weapons, which form a component part of the dress of the meanest Turk; they cannot even worship God according to the religion of their fathers without purchasing permission; and every now and then their blood is made to boil by some special act of cruelty or oppression. The following occurrence fell under our own observation. A young Greek, while walking in the streets of Smyrna, was seized by order of the governor and hurried to the altar, where, malgré lui, he was united to a girl, whose parents, desiring the match, had bribed the bey to take forcible possession of him. The bishop happened to be in attendance at the church and, not daring to refuse obedience to the mandate of the Moslim, was compelled to perform the cere

454

PRESENT CONDITION OF

mony without heeding the remonstrances of the unfortunate bridegroom. A few days after the transaction, the father of the youth calling on one of our acquaintance, bitterly lamented this cruel act of injustice, but concluded his invective against Turkish cruelty with a desponding exclamation, "Yet, what can we do?"

Still, notwithstanding their character and circumstances, the Greeks enjoy some consideration. Religion unites them by a common bond, and this union ensures to them a greater degree of influence and respect than is conceded to either of the other classes of rayahs; at the same time, peculiar causes have tended to raise them from the abyss of degradation in which they were originally sunk under their present masters. The natural indolence of the Turks prompts them to disengage themselves, as much as possible, from all cares, even those of government; and in their Greek subjects they found men at once able and willing to relieve them of the duties which involve labor, either in execution or previous qualification; accordingly, the office of dragoman was, at an early period of their history, entirely resigned to Greeks, who consequently assumed the management of all diplomatic negociations. The Turks thus became more and more de